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Dr. Geo -Be a Geometer!

It’s been almost three years since a wrote a little blurb on an exciting application that allows learners to explore geometry. That application was Dr. Geo and its developers recently, and with much-deserved pride, announced the release of its latest version. With that in mind, I thought that maybe it was time to take an in-depth look at Dr. Geo.

Object formatting is easy with the Property option under the Edit menu.

Dr. Geo is an open source application that provides an engaging environment through which school-age learners may explore, and learn about, geometry. So, what can users do with Dr. Geo? Users have the opportunity to work with the building blocks of geometry, including points, line segments and rays. Users can create arcs, circles and polygons. Vectors can be used to accurately assign points. Virtually anything geometric in nature can be created.

The author’s burgeoning creation.

What’s even more amazing is that Dr. Geo allows users to bring their creations to life through computer programming. The programming language used in Dr. Geo is the same one used to create Dr. Geo –Smalltalk. Some of my regular readers may remember a blog that I wrote a while back on Pharo, a computer programming environment. Pharo also uses Smalltalk. Smalltalk is an open source object-oriented programming language. This simply means that it focuses on objects and data rather than commands and logic. Portland State University computer science professor Harry H. Porter III (March 24, 2003) describes Smalltalk as “highly efficient, extremely portable, easy to use, and very reliable. But more importantly, Smalltalk is still the most enjoyable language in which to program.” What better tool to employ to introduce learners to computer programming?

Not ready to program yet? Use a wizard to create a Macro.

As can be seen in the screenshots, Dr. Geo’s interface is very straightforward. All actions can be performed readily via a menu, a toolbar or tabs, all located at the top of the Dr. Geo window. This traditional interface certainly minimizes the learning curve. Even without having used the software, users can jump right in and begin creating. Functionality is also enhanced by tooltips, which provide a quick way to identify tools.

So, what are you waiting for? Your students’ potential as geometricians and computer programmers is waiting to be unleashed.